


Prompt# 36: "We'll figure it out."

by Xylianna



Series: Xy's 100 Ways Challenge [4]
Category: Dragonriders of Pern - Anne McCaffrey, Final Fantasy XV
Genre: F/M, dragonscourge au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-19
Updated: 2018-07-19
Packaged: 2019-06-13 05:01:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,335
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15356835
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Xylianna/pseuds/Xylianna
Summary: Nyx and Crowe Impress their dragons.





	Prompt# 36: "We'll figure it out."

**Author's Note:**

  * For [stopmopingstarthoping](https://archiveofourown.org/users/stopmopingstarthoping/gifts).



> Part of my Dragonscourge crossover AU. Takes place several years before the main story. Originally posted on [Tumblr](https://xylianna.tumblr.com/).

Hatching Day had come, and Nyx was so excited that he didn’t even try to grab a bite on his way down to the sands, simply throwing on his white candidate’s robe and tearing out of his quarters in a flurry of lanky limbs and white cotton. He saw others similarly disheveled and smiled in commiseration at a few he’d befriended. Dragonets didn’t care if your hair was combed; it was more important to make it on time.

Across the expanse of the massive, open-air cavern, he saw Crowe. Not even his excitement over the potential of bonding with a dragon could suppress the flare of love in his heart. Her hair was just as snarled as his, and her robe looked like it was inside out, but to Nyx she was the most beautiful woman on all Pern.

They’d had a plan ever since they were both collected on Search from Galahd Hold: both would Impress, and along with their dragons, they’d be a bonded foursome. The odds were in their favor that Crowe would match with a green dragon, since many of the newly hatched creatures gravitated towards one of their own gender. If not, Nyx knew his mind was well suited for the nimble, flighty beasts - even more so since he had no aversion to sleeping with men, so there wouldn’t be any homophobic thoughts to put off a wee green dragon if one should look his way.

One of them would Impress green, the other perhaps a blue or a brown, and then they’d requisition a double-weyr and move in together. Maybe eventually start a family. Pern was safer than ever, after all, and it wouldn’t detract from the Weyr’s strength for Crowe to take a leave of absence to safely carry a child to term.

Crowe nodded to Nyx, and he nodded back. He stayed where he was, and so did she; they weren’t advertising their liaison, though he knew that some of their friends suspected. Looking up, he saw hundreds of dragons in varying hues clinging to the rim of the ancient volcano that made up the Weyr’s massive bowl. The stands were filling with riders and guests, family members of those who stood. A brief pang of sadness struck Nyx, as he remembered anew that he had no family to cheer him on. Nor did Crowe, nor did their other Galahdian friends.

But they had each other.

And after today… perhaps they’d have dragons.

The humming of the watching dragons intensified, and Nyx looked to the golden queen. Her neck was extended, tongue flicking out to taste the air as if testing the worthiness of those assembled. At least there wasn’t a queen egg this time - that always made Reginth particularly testy.

 _Crack!_ The first egg broke clean in two; a good omen. Nyx watched entranced as a tiny blue dragonet stepped free of the shells, creeling with hunger as he looked for his partner. The newborn stepped towards one of Nyx’s friends, and Nyx saw Pelna look down and lock eyes with the creature.

Just like that, Impression was made.

Eggs began to crack quickly after that, so many younglings hatching all at once that Nyx scarce knew where to look. But even from his distant vantage, he recognized the triumphant cry of his beloved. Looking to her, he saw her kneeling besides a glistening brown dragonet, scratching its eye ridges, full lips moving in words he was too far away to hear.

Tears sprang to his eyes. She looked so joyful, so loving. Nyx continued to watch as Crowe led her dragon from the sands; only once the sight of her vanished did he turn his attention back to the Hatching.

It would be green for him then. Nyx that that would suit just fine - they flitted in and out of _between_ so quickly, it fit his quicksilver temperament. As a boy, he’d daydreamed of being able to do so himself, but everyone knew that people couldn’t go _between_ without a dragon’s guidance.

Nyx watched egg after egg crack, watched his peers dive excitedly forward to try and Impress. Bronze and blue and brown. Where were the greens?

Ah hah! There, a green head poked free of shattered eggshell. Nyx strode forward as fast as he could, focusing his mind on warm, welcoming thoughts, trying to aim them at the delicate baby green dragon to encourage it to look his way.

 _Nyx,_ he heard in his head, and his chest filled with happiness. He had done it! But as he knelt beside the little green, it snapped at him.

The voice resounded in his thoughts once more, sounding confused and hurt. _Why do you go to her? I am yours. Look at me._

Nyx slowly turned his head and found himself nose-to-snout with a sturdy bronze dragonet. As cerulean eyes honed to that crystalline, rainbow gaze, Impression was made. He peripherally remembered he wasn’t supposed to get a bronze, that wasn’t the plan, but his heart was full of wonder and his head full of Ulrith.

He led the baby off of the sands, joining the other dragons in the area set up for feeding the ravenous newborns. Nyx had no time to think about anything but cutting up scraps and passing them to Ulrith as fast as he could, admonishing the beast to chew before swallowing lest he choke. After the dragon had thoroughly gorged himself, Weyrlingmaster Cor showed Nyx where their new quarters would be in the Weyrlings’ section. He settled Ulrith down for a nap and walked back outside, blinking in the blinding mid-afternoon sunshine.

“Hey,” Crowe said softly, touching his shoulder.

Nyx looked at her and grinned. “Hey, gorgeous. You did well out there!”

“Altiuth is amazing,” she replied dreamily. “I’m sorry I missed your Impression. How did it go?”

“You’re looking at the rider of bronze Ulrith,” Nyx said proudly.

“Well done,” she said, pulling him into a tight hug. “Looks like you’ll be the hero after all, hero.”

“Ehh, we’ll see,” he rejoined, resting his chin on the crown of her head. 

The excitement of the day was fading, and with his dragon napping, no voice spoke in his mind leaving it clear for Nyx to think. The full import of what had happened hit him and he pulled back so he could meet Crowe’s vibrant brown eyes.

“Neither of us got a green,” he said sadly.

“I know,” she whispered, reaching out to wipe away the tear that trailed over his cheek.

“Our plans…”

“We’ll figure it out,” Crowe said fiercely, taking his hands and squeezing them. “It’s hardly unprecedented.”

“Right,” Nyx said quietly, not as confident as she. What if her brown took a real shine to a green, and she a shine to its rider? Or worse, what if his bronze flew in a gold’s mating flight, and he found himself Weyrleader, with no time for things like personal romantic relationships, or children? No, that was silly; their current Weyrleader had been mated to the Weyrwoman for decades, and they had a son. Such things were possible.

Or would be, if Crowe was a goldrider.

“We’ll figure it out,” she repeated more loudly, pulling him from his maudlin thoughts.

“We will,” he said decisively, words holding a confidence he didn’t truly feel, not yet. Fake it until you make it, as the old saying went.

Nyx wasn’t about to let a silly thing like a childhood plan gone awry tear him away from his Crowe. No. As a bronze, he could rise to leadership. Maybe even command a wing. And he’d see to it that Crowe - and Libertus, and Pelna, and all the others - were in that wing with him.

“We should sleep while we can,” Crowe murmured. A wise suggestion if Nyx ever heard one.

“Come away with me,” he entreated, taking her hand and leading her away towards their secret place. “Fly with me until they wake up. We’ll sleep later.”

And so they did.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading. <3


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